Mammoth 'skins Uneasy About Drug Tests

Slimmed-down Jacoby Targeted For Questions

August 02, 1989|By WARNER HESSLER Staff Writer

CARLISLE, Pa. — Veteran linemen and linebackers in the Washington Redskins' training camp were on their guard Tuesday.

Tuesday was the day the Redskins gave urinalysis tests for drugs, anabolic steroids and alcohol, and linemen and linebackers are usually the largest guys on the team. Anabolic steroids, derived from the male harmone testosterone, are used to increase muscle strength, bulk and speed.

Offensive tackle Joe Jacoby, who played last season at 6-7, 335 pounds but reported to camp about 300 pounds, said he expected to be a prime target for questioning by the media.

"I think that's normal," he said. "Nobody thinks a guy can get to be my size without chemical help. It's frustrating, but after so many years you get used to it."

Jacoby said he and his brothers inherited their size from their father, who is similar in stature.

"If Jacoby was on steroids, you'd see a guy 400 pounds who could walk to the parking lot and pick up his own truck," said guard Russ Grimm.

In 1987, the Redskins tested 115 players in camp and six tested positive for steroids, including a kicker. Two made the roster that season.

Sources said defensive tackle Dan McQuaid, who was waived after the season, was one of the two players testing positive.

Last year, defensive end Dexter Manley was suspended for 30 days by the league for substance abuse. Manley said alcohol was involved, and former General Manager Bobby Beathard said it was cocaine.

Four players also tested positive for steroids during the 1988 testing and none made the team.

"The guys who tested positive last year were fringe players, guys on the edge (of being waived) who felt they needed a little extra help to compete," said Bubba Tyer, the Redskins' trainer.

Mark May, a 6-6, 295-pound offensive tackle and a nine-year member of the huge offensive line nicknamed The Hogs, said he is tired of people looking at the offensive linemen whenever steroids are mentioned.

"This is my ninth year here and we've had no problems," he said. "We are a clean team as far as I know. If my tests come back positive, somebody better be ready for a court battle.

"First of all, look at us. All of us have large guts, or we used to before (offensive line coach Joe Bugel) put us on diets.

"We were the original big offensive line. Before, there were medium sized lines, large lines and extra-large lines. Well, we were the original double-X line. We didn't need steroids."

Most of the focus Tuesday was on steroids because the date of the drug test was announced three months ago and a steroid is the only substance capable of staying in the body and being detected over that period of time.

"You've got to have a serious problem to test positive because we've known about this test for months," said Grimm. "You've got to be a real abuser."

"A random test might be more effective because the casual user has had months to clean up his act," said linebacker Monte Coleman. "You've really got to love what you're doing to get caught.

"It happens, though. Some guys who had been beating the system in the past slipped up and got caught."

Manley, who was one of several dozen players in the league who slipped up last season, must undergo random testing administered by the NFL for the rest of his career.

Middle linebacker Neal Olkewicz, an 11-year veteran, said steroid use was more predominant when he was at the University of Maryland than in the NFL.

"Steroids were around when I was in college," he said, "but it wasn't something we talked about. It was just accepted.

"I thought about taking steroids then to get bigger, but I needed to get taller and faster and steroids couldn't help me."

Dean Hamel, the muscular 6-3, 290-pound defensive tackle, is another member of the Redskins who said he has heard people whisper that he bulked up on steroids.

"My dad's a big guy, so I'm a big guy," said Hamel. "Listen, I don't take them. There's life after football and I don't want to turn 40 and die."

May said recent revelations about the side effects of steroids - sterility and heart and liver disease - may account for what he perceives as a declining interest in steroids among football players.

"Players are receiving more information on the dangers of using steroids," he said, "and they are learning what it can do to the system. A player can have the internal organs of a 45-year-old man when they are 30.

"There's pressure to succeed in this business, and it's up to each man to decide on the price he wants to pay to make it.

"If he pays at the start (by using steroids), he'd better be prepared to pay at the end because his life will be cut short."